215 - Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (Live!) (with Calvin Dyson and Emily Slade)

Guests: Calvin Dyson and Emily Slade

Films covered in this episode:
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Emily: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰
Overall score: 63%

It's Diminishing Returns' second live show! Presented here for those of you who couldn't join us on the night (and those of you who'd like to listen again).

We needed to fill a week in the schedule at the last minute, so we thought we'd cover the new Netflix release Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.

Calvin and Emily join us to defend, while Allen regales with tales of his time spent on the movie's set.

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214 - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Films (and TV) covered in this episode:
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 90%

Bruno
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 80%

Continuing our two-week discussion of Sacha Baron Cohen, we pick up from the failure of Ali G Indahouse to discuss the relative success of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan followed by Bruno and a little epilogue touching on Who Is America?.

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213 - Ali G Indahouse

Films (and TV) covered in this episode:
Da Ali G Show
Allen: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 80%

Ali G Indahouse
Allen: ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 45%

Ali G in da USAiii
Allen: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 100%

The Dictator
Allen: ½
Sol: ½
Overall score: 20%

Grimsby
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: n/s
Overall score: 50%

What started as a throwaway joke: Sacha Baron Cohen Season - posed in one of our Patreon-exclusive Diminisodes - springs into bizarre reality (but not particularly bizarre by 2020 standards). This week, we're covering Ali G from his origins on The 11 O'Clock Show, through Da Ali G Show, Ali G Indahouse and culminating in Ali G in da USAiii. We're also covering The Dictator and Grimsby so that we don't have to worry about them next week, when we do Borat, Bruno and Who Is America?.

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The Microsoft Paint picture Sol created as a response to The Dictator, as promised in this week’s episode.

212 - Train to Busan (with Grace Miller)

Guest: Grace Miller

Films covered in this episode:
Train to Busan
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Grace: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 70%

Seoul Station
Allen: n/s
Grace: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 70%

Diminishing Returns takes a much-needed trip back into zombie territory to coincide with the upcoming (South Korean) release of Peninsula, the sequel to Train to Busan. Sol and Allen are re-joined by Grace Miller and they take a little look at animated prequel Seoul Station, too.

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211 - Hamlet (with Nicky Diss)

Guest: Nicky Diss

Films covered in this episode:
Hamlet (1996)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Nicky: ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 47%

It's another Patreon vote episode... sort of. This week, we asked our Patrons to give us suggestions for an episode and then we held an internal Diminishing Returns vote to select a victor. Our choice was Tom Patten's suggestion to cover the 1996 Kenneth Branagh version of Hamlet, so that we could get into a hot-take debate regarding literature. William Shakespeare: good or rubbish? Joining us, this week, is theatre (and, you know, Shakespeare) director, Nicky Diss!

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210 - Tomorrow Never Dies (with Calvin Dyson)

Guest: Calvin Dyson

Films covered in this episode:
Tomorrow Never Dies
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 64%

Back on Bond! Calvin is determined to get us through the Brosnan era ahead of No Time to Die's release in November. This is our second step towards that goal, looking at Pierce's second time playing James: Tomorrow Never Dies! Listen for discussion of a wealth of name-actors and even No Time to Die's potential for a Best Picture nomination at the coming Academy Awards.

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209 - Taxi Driver

Films covered in this episode:

Taxi Driver
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 90%

A rare non-franchise turn for Diminishing Returns - and our first real Martin Scorsese episode: a look at Taxi Driver, complete with Robert De Niro's (madness in the) method and how we'd react if taken to a porno theatre on a date.

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208 - Pareturns of Dimin Memory (with Calvin Dyson, Judey Bignell, Daryn Ashcroft, Scott Chambers and Chris Hammond)

Guests: Calvin Dyson, Judey Bignell, Daryn Ashcroft, Scott Chambers and Chris Hammond

You know the drill with these outtakes episodes by now: we needed a week off so we're releasing a load of never-before-heard material (unless you're one of our Patreon subscribers, in which case, you've had access to this episode for almost a year, now).

This is all stuff cut from previous episodes for the sake of time or because it went too far off on a tangent. But it still makes for good listening, so hear we are.

Guests this week, include Calvin Dyson, Judey Bignell, Daryn Ashcroft, Scott Chambers, Chris Hammond and Karl Pilkington.

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207 - Starship Troopers (with Gareth Allen)

Guest: Gareth Allen

Films covered in this episode:

Starship Troopers
Allen: ✰ ✰
Gareth: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 60%

Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation
Allen: ✰ ½
Gareth: n/s
Sol: ✰
Overall score: 25%

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder
Allen: ✰ ✰
Gareth: n/s
Sol: ✰ ½
Overall score: 35%

Starship Troopers: Invasion
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Gareth: ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰
Overall score: 37%

Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Gareth: ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ½
Overall score: 40%

After last week's live antics, we're going back to basics with a conventional Diminishing Returns episode looking at Starship Troopers and its many sequels.

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206 - Diminishing Returns Live! (with Calvin Dyson and Emily Slade)

Guests: Calvin Dyson and Emily Slade

Film scores updated in this episode:

American Beauty
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Judey: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 88%

Fight Club
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Brear: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 90%

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Daryn: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 88%

Shaun of the Dead
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 94%

This Is England
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 84%

A special live episode of the podcast, originally broadcast exclusively to Patreon subscribers on the 28th of April, 2020! (Please forgive the shaky audio quality - we're normally much better than this, but we're also not normally live).

That's right, this whole corona virus lockdown pushed us to hold a special video stream event: a live episode of the podcast. Hopefully the first of many.

Listen to this - the edited audio version - or head over to our official YouTube page to watch the (mostly) unedited video version (there’s also an embed on this very page).

This episode features Sol, Allen and Calvin as well as Emily Slade from Why This Film? podcast, who was kind enough to compere the event for us. There's a James Bond quiz, Calvin is invited to add his own ratings to the films he missed in the currently in the Diminishing Returns top 10 list, the gang take various audience questions and more.

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205 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (with Emily Slade)

Guest: Emily Slade

Films covered in this episode:
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Allen: ✰ ½
Emily: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 57%

Our epic trilogy comes to its conclusion with this: The Returns of the Diminishings (our third episode covering The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and, this time, looking specifically at The Return of the King). Emily Slade is this week's Lord of the Ringer, ushered in to defend the franchise against haters, Allen and Sol.

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204 - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (with Grace Miller)

Guest: Grace Miller

Films covered in this episode:
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Grace: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 64%

The trilogy of episodes covering The Lord of the Rings enters the exciting middle part as we turn our heads to The Two Towers, with the help of Grace Miller.

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203 - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (with Sean Morrison)

Guest: Sean Morrison

Films covered in this episode:
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sean: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰
Overall score: 67%

Corona virus has demolished the slate of movie releases we had episodes planned to tie into, so we scrambled for something else to do and asked Patreon which trilogy they'd like us to cover out of the ones we haven't done yet. The Lord of the Rings was the overwhelming winner, so here we are: the first of three episodes covering the first of three movies (no one mention The Hobbit).

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202 - This Is England (with Thomas Turgoose and Andrew Ellis)

Guests: Thomas Turgoose and Andrew Ellis

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It’s a very special week at Diminishing Returns as we welcome the hosts of Overrated Everything podcast for a crossover! Did we mention that the hosts of Overrated Everything are Thomas Turgoose and Andrew Ellis who played Shaun and Gadet in This Is England? We probably should have done, because that's the film we're covering this week... We're also looking at the three miniseries follow-ups This Is England '86, '88 and '90 and, as always, chatting about the possibility of another sequel…

Check out our Patreon here!

Films (and TV) covered in this episode:

This Is England
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 100%

Note: score was subsequently revised when Calvin added his rating in our first live episode

This Is England ‘86
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 90%

This Is England ‘88
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 75%

This Is England ‘90
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 75%

201 - Easter Special: Life of Brian (with Calvin Dyson)

Guest: Calvin Dyson

Films covered in this episode:
Life of Brian
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 77%

It's time, once more, for the annual Diminishing Returns Easter Special, in which things get a little bit religious... well, I mean, as much as you'd expect when covering Monty Python's Life of Brian.

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200 - The Bigger Diminishing Returns Quiz (with Calvin Dyson, Gareth Allen, Chris Hunter, Judey Bignell and Emily Slade)

Guests: Calvin Dyson, Gareth Allen, Chris Hunter, Judey Bignell and Emily Slade

To mark the show's 200th episode, we're putting on another big Diminishing Returns quiz! This time, Gareth steps in as Quiz Master, to emcee the proceedings and the gang are quizzed by past guests from Judey Bignell to Chris Hunter to Emily Slade. Even music-meister Tomo Fallows gets in on the action.

Here's to the next 200!

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199 - GoldenEye (with Calvin Dyson)

Guest: Calvin Dyson

Films covered in this episode:
GoldenEye
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 77%

In an unprecedented Diminishing Returns move, we're bringing you a second James Bond episode, the week after the first, all in anticipation of No Time to Die which, as far as we're aware, is released on the 3rd of April 2020! Calvin Dyson joins us, as always, as we enter the Pierce Brosnan era.

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198 - Licence to Kill (with Calvin Dyson)

Guest: Calvin Dyson

Films covered in this episode:
Licence to Kill
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 64%

Bond is back, just in time for the upcoming release of No Time to Die! (No one tell Calvin).

This time, we tackle the second half of Timothy Dalton's tenure with the character. Licence to Kill was, at one time, Calvin Dyson's least favourite film in the entire franchise - has he come round to it, now? Did he and Allen comically underestimate the impact Coronavirus was just about to have? Possibly. Listen and find out!

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197 - Mulan (with Emily Slade)

Guest: Emily Slade

Films covered in this episode:
Mulan
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Emily: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 84%

Mulan II
Allen: n/s
Emily: ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 35%

What? Another live-action Disney remake already? Yeah, they're just pumping these out. It's Mulan, this time. Starring Eddie Murphy! (You know what that means...)

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196 - A Quiet Place (with Conor Murray)

Guest: Conor Murray

Films covered in this episode:
A Quiet Place
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Conor: ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 67%

If you listen really carefully, you might hear our A Quiet Place episode, taking on John Krasinski's breakout project as director which became a surprise hit, earning so much money, A Quiet Place: Part II was put almost immediately into production so that it could come out later this week.

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